FIELDS OF VISION

EYE FROM ZION is an Israeli voluntary organization that gives free medical treatment to needy populations around the world. During the last few years I joined the medical delegations to Vietnam ,to Myanmar to Ethiopia and to Kenya. The Doctors went to distant districts and far-flung villages to preform oculoplastic, cataract and cross-eye surgeries.I documented the work of the doctors in the operating rooms : the poor conditions , the improvised equipment in the clinics, the local patients, the pre-and-post-op situation.The experience was overwhelming. Cataract operations are a simple procedure, and very common in the western world, but in countries with no public health care, people go blind simply because they cannot afford treatment.In addition to the documentary, I made a portrait series. I was fascinated by the way people looked before and after their operations. the cloudy, infected eye, the mark on the forehead, the family escort, the tattoos . In every clinic i set up a tiny studio where I took portraits of the patients. The arrival of the medical delegation in the villages was a big event, so many local friends and relatives joined in my little studio and asked to be photographed as well .